Illinois House Votes to Nullify Federal Marijuana Laws, 61-57

The Illinois House passed a bill legalizing marijuana for medical use on Wednesday. Passage into law would nullify, as 18 states are already doing, unconstitutional federal bans on the plant.

The 61-57 vote for HB1 was cheered by supporters who say the House has long been the highest hurdle for legalization; the Senate has previously passed similar legislation and Gov. Pat Quinn said Wednesday he was “open-minded” about the proposal.

Congress and the president claim the constitutional authority to prohibit weed. The Supreme Court concurs. But sharing an opinion on something doesn’t necessarily make it a fact. You can claim you are a unicorn, but you’re not. Clearly, the Constitution delegates no power of marijuana regulation to the feds. And the so-called war on drugs rests on the same legal authority as all of the other modern-day undeclared wars.

None.

So, more and more states continue to do exactly what they should do when the federal government tries exercise power it does not legitimately possess.

Ignore it.

Eighteen states have done just that, legalizing medical marijuana. That wave continues to build, with even more state legislatures considering medicinal marijuana legislation in the 2013 session, and more likely to follow suit.

Under the bill, an individual could be prescribed no more than 2.5 ounces of marijuana over two weeks. A doctor who prescribes marijuana must have had a prior and ongoing relationship with the patient.

Patients would have to buy the marijuana from one of 60 dispensing centers throughout the state rather than be allowed to grow their own. Workers at dispensing centers would undergo criminal background checks, the stores would be under around-the-clock camera surveillance, and users would carry cards that indicate how much they had purchased to prevent stockpiling.

The feds insists Americans can’t use marijuana. That hasn’t stopped 18 states from legalizing medicinal cannabis. And the people of Colorado and Washington voted for full marijuana legalization last November.

“Clearly, the Constitution delegates no power of marijuana regulation to the feds. And the so-called war on drugs rests on the same legal authority as all of the other modern-day undeclared wars…none,” Tenth Amendment Center executive director Michael Boldin said. “The rapidly growing and wildly successful state-level movement to legalize marijuana, either completely, or for medical use, proves that states can successfully nullify unconstitutional federal acts. The feds can claim the authority to prohibit pot all they want, but it clearly has done nothing to deter states from moving forward with plans to allow it, pushed by the will of the people.”.

If you do some research, the real reason the feds want marijuana to remain illegal, is big oil. Many products were made from Hemp before oil and government partnered to make it illegal. It’s not just for “getting high”. You don’t see them making Jimsum weed illegal, even though people die from using it to get high. No, it’s never been about safety or “preventing drug abuse”.

If the feds want federal laws enforced by states, they should plead to the state supreme courts that they want the states to either enforce all federal laws or no federal laws, and get the state courts to either agree or rule against them in their own state

Many of the folks that want the war on drugs to end are Libetarians who want smaller less intrusive government, especially one that will not kick your doors down and kill you in a rain of bullets. Most of us would like this to stop. Libetarians membership spans demoncrats as well as republicans and tea partiers. This is confusing to most people, but it is the best chance to reunite America as it should be, with all parties working together, not to enslave us but to free us. The past several administrations have been causing rifts in class, race, religion, along every boundary that can be defined. Republicans and demoncrats have began to look the same with wars and police actions against people at home and abroad with grevious and disturbing quashing of posse comitatus, executive orders invoking martial law and defining America as a battleground where war may be fought with its own army, a violation of every principal of the Constitution. We will wake up when the fruit of this great conspiracy of the statists bears fruit. Will you resist?

The problem is once it becomes legal it will be harder to get. You’ll have to meet arbitrary age requirements. You’ll need a prescription and that will be a 30 day supply at most. Maybe you can get it on Sunday, maybe not. It will be taxed out the wazoo and that will added to the price you pay along with the cost of compliance to all the regulations. Better yet, decriminalize it and keep the government’s hands off it. They have no business getting involved with it whatsoever.

I vote to overrule the anybody telling me what to do laws.
My vote should seem unanimous, but somehow everyone else thinks they get to tell me what to do when all I want to do is leave them alone to choose for themselves.

Tobaco is an addictive and dangrous product but the tax sticker makes this acceptable and while moonshine is illegal the same product taxed is just fine. This is not about drugs or health hazards it is about government collecting revenue.

Help Indiana legalize medical marijuana also I have. Scoliosis and Lymes it would help the people out who suffer from chronic pain and sleeping problems so we don’t have to wait in jail for medicating in our own homes being law abiding citizens

Go Illinois! The marijuana laws should be repealed, OR nullified! My guess is that the Federal government is involved in drug trafficking, thus they do not want competition. Hey, isn’t this a capitalist country? What gives.

As a pastor I disagree with the use of MJ either medically or recreational, but as a Constitutional Libertarian I oppose the unconstitutional overreach of the DCvers even more and agree it is a state issue.

“The Courts must declare the sense of the law; and if they should be disposed to exercise WILL instead of JUDGEMENT, the consequences would be the substitution of their pleasure for that of the legislative body.”
The Federalist No. 78

How would you feel Ken if a few other addictive dangerous substances were included in the same schedule as pot? Things like nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and chocolate. These substances all have a high potential for abuse, and no recognized medical value, they all have one other thing in common, people can die from an overdose. No one has ever died from an overdose of pot, and it is less addictive than any of the previously mentioned items, it may also be a cure for cancer and other ailments, I could go on and on and on… P.S. I voted to legalize, and I don’t really care for your closed minded support…

Civics education in this country is so pathetic that it’s unbelievable that people even know what the Constitution is. Most people have no clue that the supremacy clause only applies to laws that were written to enforce the Constitution… not just any old federal law that the government wants to pass.

I mean, big plus for the state of Illinois, but it’s just fucked up that our Federal government holds such idiotic laws in the first place that forces We, The People, to ignore them and then illegally vote to “nullify” them. Things are just fucked up I guess 😛

I hate drugs. Alcohol too. That being said, those powers that are not expressly given to the federal government by the Constitution are for the states to decide for themselves. Our federal government is far too powerful. And they have gained most of their power through wealth redistribution. I’d love to eliminate every federal program there is. They are there to moderate difficulties between states and maintain a military to defend our country. That’s it.

Like anyone in chicago ever paid attention fo drug laws. You’d have to be high to live there! Glad to see them stand up to the federal government though, now they only have to straighten out their state and local…

I love how they get together to fix weed laws which I have no problem with but still have most restrictive gun laws with murder in chicago all over the place. No let’s fix the weed laws first lmao good priorities illinois

If the Politicians when they take the oath of office swear to uphold the CONSTITUTION and then turn face and try to take it away from the people that put them in office, would that not be called TREASON!!!! So why are they still in office?
trea·son
/ˈtrēzən/
Noun
The crime of betraying one’s country, esp. by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government.
The action of betraying someone or something.
Synonyms
treachery – betrayal – perfidy – disloyalty – sellout
I call it POLITICAL TREASON!!!!!

I don’t like it, can’t stand and in fact allergic to the smoke of it. I can not even open my window and let fresh air in my apartment, on the ground floor without having issues from breathing it. He the fuckers around here smoke is so much I can be in an open field and still smell it. My kids get sick from it and wish every gram of pot was destroyed. Fuck yall who use it. Medical use, bullshit, you all just wanna get high.

Ken, if you’re not supporting legalization, you are saying you don’t think other adults should be able to make their own choices. I would never presume to tell you you can drink, just because I choose not to. This has nothing to do with your personal choice and everything to do with individual rights.

The medical cannabis industry has taken off, with companies producing an enormous variety of concentrates, extracts, elixirs, and edibles – all which are safe alternatives to smoking, without ingesting dangerous tars and carbon.

The left my ass! The left is for big government. Prohibition is huge government. Prohibition is the left. That’s right! If you are for big government prohibition police state bullshit, you’re a leftist.

I’ve been super high…..super drunk too and I tell u. Marijuana is 100 times less dangerous than booze. FACTS, it would take 15lbs of marijuana smoked in under 20 minutes to overdose and die. There are 0 documented deaths due to use of Marijuana, 0 cases of cancer linked to Marijuana. I am a patriot and a Republican. But that hate towards weed is about as ridiculous as Obama’s proposed gun control ban.

I did not mention telling others what they can or can not do to themselves. I spoke only of what I will do, if that jerks your chain, maybe you should change your perspective and see from my point of view. I am only exercising my rights as the law permits ! B)

It’s legal here Denver, and I’ve been a MMJ patient for 3 years. There’s close to 1000 dispensaries within 25 miles; more than McDonald’s and Starbucks combined. The sky hasn’t fallen, everyone goes to work, and life goes on.

Has anyone considered the only ones to to lose billions is Big Pharma” and the Doctors who get bribed? The pills are highly toxic, and addictive, and now they got rid of generic oxy-cotin. While I don’t smoke, and never had pot, I think a brownie with pot would help with pain considerably.

According to my Constitution the states have the power to due so, even though I hope they do not. I will not support the legalization of weed period. I will not support those who vote to legalize it either ! B)

Distribution of law determination to States – as is their right – is not a dilution of the Federal Government, but rather a relieving of the work that is more appropriate to the people who live in that state as well.